PYRAMIDS OF SAN JUAN TEOTIHUACAN
glass cases some remarkable designs
and colored archeological treasures are
guarded. The ancient Toltecs were art
ists in the beautiful shades of color they
used, which are still visible, especially
the pinks and greens. In another direc
tion we observed what is said to have
been the "citadel" of this buried city,
showing a large mound surrounded by
fifteen smaller ones. All of these will
eventually be excavated.
In all there exist 180 mounds sur
rounding the two large pyramids, which
are to be treated similarly and their pres
ervation thus assured. Looking over
the scene, one harmonizes the purposes
of these with the environment. Some of
them were forts for defense; some of
them were religious, with their court of
women, court of laity, and other socie
ties. If only on some bright, sunny day
the pageant could return, as we picture
it during the Toltec dynasty, what a re
markable sight it would afford! Every
terrace filled with strange people, with
strange costumes in which gold and sil
ver and the gaudy plumage of tropical
birds lent their willing service.
But in the words (which history has
preserved to us) of the great King Nex
ahualcoyatle, King of the Toltecs, whose
death took place about the year 1470,
we find an answer: "All round, the world
is but a sepulchre, and there is nothing
that lives on its surface that shall not be
hidden and entombed beneath it. The
things of yesterday are no more today,
and the things of today shall cease per
haps on the morrow. These glories
have all passed away, like the fearful
smoke that issues from the throat of
Popocatepetl, with no other existence
than the record on the page of the chron
icler. The great, the wise, the valiant,
and the beautiful, alas! where are they
now? That which has befallen them
shall happen to us and to those that come
after us. The horrors of the tomb are
but the cradle of the sun and the dark
shadows of death are brilliant lights for
the stars."
The mystic import of this last sen
tence, says Prescott, seems to point to
that superstition respecting the mansions
of the sun which forms so beautiful a
contrast to the dark features of the Aztec
mythology.
A PROLIFIC COFFEE TREE: MEXICO
1047